The Shopping Circus at Jervis: A Show for the Ages

Support your local retail carousel, folks! Last week, Jervis shopping centre was swarmed by an odd breed of shoppers—with deep pockets and an eagerness to wheel and deal, not to grab the latest fashion (though who could blame them?). It seems Dublin’s city mall, nudged onto the market by its owners Paddy McKillen and Padraig Drayne, was too tempting to resist for up to 13 first-round bidders.

This marks the first time the Jervis has hit the market since the ’90s, which is essentially the Jurassic period in shopping terms. You’d think it was crafted from pure gold, given that it’s one of the last malls still in the hands of its original creators from the Stone Age, also known as the boom years. The market’s never been so exciting, unless you find thrill in auctioneering dramas.

Our bidders included an eclectic mix: the Comer Group, US property mogul Hines, Peter Horgan’s Lugus Capital, Patron Capital, and even David Goddard’s Lanthorn. You could almost hear “Deal or No Deal” in the background as they furiously waved their paddles, vying for a piece of the lava-lamp-lit retail pie.

The past few months have seen an extraordinary resurgence in retail investment, despite the grim reaper (a.k.a. the pandemic) running rampant. Go figure! Retail is attracting a tidal wave of capital while the office sector is still stuck in a lockdown-like stupor. It’s the miracle of modern economics, or perhaps a masterclass in resuscitation.

Estate agents reported that retail accounted for half of all deals at the start of the year. Yep, half! That’s right. Maybe there’s something to be said for window shopping—at the auction house, that is. Over at Realty Income, an actual business headquartered in the land of excess (the US), the promotion of shopping is hardly a novelty; they even invested a cool $220 million to acquire eight retail parks. What a time to be alive!

Now, if the doom-and-gloom prophets of the 2020 apocalypse had anything accurate to report about retail trends, they misfired. According to fresh stats, in-store shopping is back with a vengeance—up by 2% just in the last year. For all the “experts” banging on about how brick-and-mortar was on life support, turns out, it just needed a strong cup of coffee and a pep talk. Can you say ‘retail revival’? Maybe we all owe bricks-and-mortar a visit, if only to thank it for nearly pulling off its own resurrection.

The EY Future Consumer index revealed that seven in ten consumers would rather shop in physical stores for their daily essentials—because nothing says “I love grocery shopping” like perusing aisles in person. Jean McCabe, from Retail Excellence Ireland, chimed in with her take: customers are flocking back for the experience, not just shop-or-die convenience. Who knew that engaging with a real human while buying a loaf of bread could become a popular pastime again?

Amid all this retail renaissance chaos, Brendan McDowell of BPerfect Cosmetics, who began his journey selling makeup online, now has 13 physical stores sprinkled across the UK and Ireland. Talk about commitment! “When we first opened in Blanchardstown,” McDowell said, “there were empty units for days—like a ghost town.” Rather than retreat, they seized the opportunity to negotiate sweeter leases, making them the new “zombies inheriting the earth.” With each closure comes a new beginning—what a perfect metaphor for life, and retail.

So if you’re thinking it might be time to sell your ’90s mall collection, consider this: Not all closures spell doom. In fact, many say they present golden opportunities for fresh brands to swoop in and glisten where others have faded away. Retail, it seems, is enjoying a rather dramatic second act, and if this trend keeps up, it might just land a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.